


Run Kid Run

by Nakasawa444



Category: GOT7
Genre: Fluff, Fun, M/M, Slight enemies to lovers, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-07 19:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20314438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nakasawa444/pseuds/Nakasawa444
Summary: Mark loves doing sports, so naturally he's glad to be allowed to receive education at the nation's most renowned sports college. But the college has a problem: its academic average is too low. The solution: the school management recruits a bunch of brainy kids who are supposed to solve the problem. But school regulations say they still have to pass the sports entrance test. To prepare and train them for the test, every brainy aspirant is provided with a student trainer. Mark is responsible for Park Jinyoung, who is grumpy, stubborn, and an athletic disaster.





	Run Kid Run

**Author's Note:**

> Whoever submitted this prompt, thank you. I had fun writing this story. I hope it turned out as entertaining as it was supposed to.

Mark knows what would come next but that doesn't mean he feels any better about the whole situation. When the headmaster of their school of sports and sports science, the most renowned sports school of the whole country, is looking at them one after another, Mark wishes he would have been more diligent when it comes to studying for his anatomy class. He could have spared himself a lot of trouble.

“Wang, Tuan, angry kid, just like we discussed before you will meet your protégés now.”

“What's a protégé?” Jaebum whispers to Mark.

“Something like a fosterling, somebody we're supposed to take care of,” the blond whispers back.

“Why the heck doesn't he just say so?” the other hisses in response.

“Any objections, angry kid?” the headmaster snaps and fixes Jaebum with a firm glare.

“No, sir!”

“Good, here you have your information about the boys you're going to coach. Read everything carefully and then head to the teachers' lounge. They are waiting for you there.”

Mark looks at the piece of paper which is a simple post-it. There are only two things written on it: 'Park Jinyoung' and the number '128'. Just what about these information should he read carefully? The headmaster acted like he would have to memorize a whole manual about his brainy kid.

While they are on their way to the teachers' lounge he takes a look around and spots Jackson and Jaebum with similar questioning expressions on their faces. At least he's not alone in this, Mark thinks.

When they enter the respective room Mark immediately makes eye contact with one of his teachers, Mr. Nam. The latter hurries towards them and leans in close to Mark before he whispers, “Good luck, Tuan. They really _are _nerds.”

Awesome, Mark thinks. That's the form of encouragement he expects from a responsible-minded teacher....... NOT. But Mr. Nam doesn't seem to care and now says loud enough for all three of them to catch, “Our hopefully soon-to-be students are in there.” He points to the open door which leads to a small separate room. “Please greet them politely and take good care of them. I'm sure you know that great responsibility weighs on your shoulders. You might start your training right this day. In case you need any advice, every teacher will gladly help you out with anything you need.”

Mark hears Jaebum snort right next to him.

“Do you want to say anything, Im?”

“No, Mr. Nam. I'm very glad to be charged with this task.” The sarcasm drips from every single syllable that leaves Jaebum's mouth.

“Better be careful here. This might be your last chance,” Mr. Nam warns him. “And now go and greet the kids.”

Mark takes Jaebum by his arm and drags him away. No need to risk him losing his temper even before they started working on their little project.

They walk over to the open door and all three of them take a peek into the room without making any noise.

There's a skinny kid, a very tall, lazy looking kid, one giggly kid that looks a bit out of place and another one that looks like the textbook nerd, with chunky, black rimmed glasses and a huge tome in his hands. Mark has no idea what it is about, since he doesn't even know the word on the book cover. However, he silently prays to get the tall kid.

“Why are there four of them?” Jaebum whispers.

“I volunteered to take two,” Jackson informs. A bright smile stretches across his face.

“Why?”

“I have so much love go give. That's why I decided to take care of two babies,” he says and bounces into the room while he yells a happy greeting.

“Why is Jackson... like a weird fairy on drugs?”

“I don't know,” Mark admits and observes how Jackson hugs the tall kid and the giggly kid. Great, only the skinny one and the nerd-nerd are left now.

“Maybe he dropped on his head too often in artistic gymnastics class,” his roommate reasons.

“Probably. But he has my respect for taking two of them. I think I will be pretty busy with only one. Oh god, I hope mine won't be a jerk.”

“Same here,” Jaebum agrees. “So, let's go?”

“Yeah, let's go.”

They bravely walk up to the two remaining kids. Jaebum looks at his information paper quizzically before he starts reading aloud. “Kumpim... what? Bhuwa... I don't know this word. What is this supposed to mean?”

“Oh wow, they paired you up with someone who can't even read. Congratulation, Bam,” the nerd-nerd says cynically while he shuts his thick book with a thud.

“I _can_ read, okay? It's just that these aren't words!” Jaebum grumbles and is close to losing his temper already.

“These _are_ words and it's my name. But you can call me BamBam. Everybody does,” the skinny kid explains.

“Thank heavens. This other thing is ridiculous.”

“Hey! I just told you that this is my _name_. How can you say something disrespectful like that?”

“I just say how it is!”

“God, what a stupid thing to say.”

“I'M NOT STUPID!” Jaebum yells.

“IT PRETTY MUCH SEEMS SO!” the kid croak-yells back.

“Okay okay,” Mark steps in, “we're still in the teachers' lounge and everybody is already looking so we should calm down. BamBam? Jaebum is sorry. He doesn't want to hurt anybody. He sometimes is a little insensitive and simply doesn't realize it. Please accept his apology and give him another chance.”

“Hey!” Jaebum complains.

But Mark simply grabs the back of his neck as a signal to stay calm. “Apologize!”

“Sorry,” his friend grumbles.

“Okay, I accept,” BamBam says.

“Good, now have a good time together,” Mark announces with fake enthusiasm. Before he releases Jaebum he whispers to him, “Don't fuck this up, okay? Mr. Nam is right. This _is _your last chance.”

“But I hate this,” he whisper-whines in return.

“I know, and now go and be nice to him.” He nudges his friend towards the kid and turns to nerd-nerd, who watched the entire event with curious eyes.

“So you're Park Jinyoung, I guess. Hi, I'm Mark Tuan and technically still a first year, but a second year after summer break. I'll be your coach for the next two months and we will get you ready to tackle that entrance exam.” He tries to showcase his most cheery voice to encourage the other boy. Mark thinks there's no point in doing this whole thing half-assed.

“Hi Mark,” he says, sounding kind of sly. “Park Jinyoung, IQ 128.” So that's the meaning of the number on his information paper, Mark realizes.

“Is it fancy to introduce yourself with your IQ level?”

“I don’t know about fancy but I deem it essential. I assume yours to be around 68.”

“Wait… doesn’t one need a minimum IQ of 70 to be able to live independently?” Mark questions.

“Oh, you at least know _that much_. I increase my assumption to 72 then,” he says with a sneer. Awesome, his kid is a jerk. Just what he feared the most came true. From the corner of his eyes he spots Jackson, practicing a special handshake with both his kids. They all seem elated about it. Mark is so envious right now.

He heaves a deep sigh and squares his shoulders. There's no use in being envious. He has to deal with nerd-nerd here so he will try his best to do exactly that.

Mark takes a seat on a chair opposite of him. “So One-Two-Eight, let's have a little chat.”

“Ooooh you admit how intellectually superior I am by calling me by my IQ. Good idea. I might reconsider again and estimate your IQ to be 74.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever. So how about-”

“But naaah, I think I went overboard with my recent enthusiasm. Let's settle for a solid 73.”

Mark huffs. He's annoyed, very _very_ annoyed. So annoyed that he for the first time ever can relate to Jaebum's default state. How should he work with him, if this kid can't manage to stop talking conceited shit for more than five seconds?! He needs to put his foot down now to prevent this boy's behavior getting out of hand in near future.

“Listen kid, you might want to fix your attitude a little-”

“How dare you calling me a kid? I'm just a year younger than _you_ are,” nerd-nerd grouses, absolutely outraged.

“And as long as you don't manage to catch up, I guess I keep calling you kid.”

“But.... I can't catch up to you. That's impossible!”

“So as I said, _kid-”_

“My IQ is 128. How dare you to reduce me to a _kid_?” he spits.

“Should I congratulate you on your childish behavior then? Because that is what it is. You can't walk around here and act all haughty and insult people without knowing even the first thing about them. Don't you know that calling other people stupid or even implying it, shows your lack of manners and respect? It also reveals your ignorance towards people. For somebody who claims to be oh so clever, this is truly a pathetic display. However, you should really fix your attitude or you won't survive here. Do you understand, _kid_?”

The younger is obviously taken aback by Mark's sudden speech and the intensity of his words. But the next second he goes into defense mode. “I don't have to listen to you,” he meekly grumbles and flashes a pout. Mark thinks that he's truly a kid, a very sulky and impertinent one at that.

“But I'm your coach and therefore you kind of _have_ to listen to me. So let's start again. I'm Mark. You're Jinyoung, a kid. You're super smart. I'm an athlete but that doesn't make me stupid or mentally challenged by default. It would help a lot, if you'd learn to acknowledge that. And now everything is settled and we can start to talk about our joint task.”

“I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!” Mark hears the skinny kid yell in the background.

“ME? YOU'RE THE WEIRDO HERE!” Jaebum hollers.

“NO WAY! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO SPEND TWO MONTHS WITH YOU?”

“SAME HERE, WEIRDO!”

“AAARRGHH!” And with this BamBam storms out of the room with Jaebum running and yelling after him.

At least it runs slightly smoother with his brainy kid, Mark thinks. But truly only slightly.

“So what's your favorite sport?” Mark asks to regain Jinyoung’s attention.

“I like to watch football games on television with my dad sometimes,” he simply answers, finally without any noticeable snark in his voice.

“Uhm...okaaaay. What's your favorite sport in which you actively participate?”

“Chess.”

Mark looks at him with his mouth agape. The younger doesn’t even intend to make fun of him this time. Nevertheless, his answers are shocking.

“But what about non-sitting activities? What are your athletic preferences?”

“I don't have any.”

“To make it short: you don’t do sports at all.”

“I told you about my fascination for chess already. Aren’t you listening or is your attention span truly _that_ short?”

Mark groans in despair. “I mean a sport in which you move your body, more than just your hands. Okay, whatever. Go and get changed. We will start the training in half an hour and then…. I guess we have to wait and see.”

The boy looks like he would do anything rather than listening to Mark’s request but he eventually obeys. And 30 minutes later they meet outside, both dressed in sports wear. The older is actually a bit surprised that Jinyoung even owns proper workout clothes but he’s definitely not complaining.

“First of all we will start with a small warm-up and loosen up your muscles to prevent injuries. That will be from now on the start of our every day together.”

The younger pulls a face but Mark ignores it. He knows better than to quibble over such details. Instead he starts to demonstrate different warm-up exercises. Smitten with surprise, he notices that Jinyoung really tries his best to copy him, albeit with more or less success.

“Important to know is that we do warm-up exercises _before_ our work out and stretches _after_ we’re done with our training,” Mark explains before he starts the next exercise.

“I know that,” huffs the boy who already has beats of sweat collecting at his temples. Mark rolls his eyes and just starts the next demonstration.

“Now we do hip raises. Lie down on your back,” Mark says and points to the brought sport mats on the ground. Jinyoung complies, although with a certain hesitance. “Good, now bend your knees and then raise your hip up.” Like the other exercises, the older demonstrates the execution before he observes how his new student is doing. Mark is not satisfied. “Okay, this is not working. Your back needs to be completely straight. Feel your spine, kid. No hollow back, otherwise sooner or later this will result in back pain,” he explains and monitors how the younger tries to correct his posture.

“Like this?”

“Uhm, no. Just let me quickly help you.” Mark crawls over and places one hand under Jinyoung, on his lower back. To his surprise the boy jerks away and rolls over on his side.

“Don’t touch me!”

Utterly baffled Mark stares at him. “Kid, calm down. I just wanted to show you how to do this correctly.”

“Yeah, right. Don’t try to hurt me under the pretense of helping me, dumbass,” the younger hisses.

“Well, I wasn't. And really? Dumbass, yeah? Already forgot our little chat about respect for others?”

“Whatever. I do those dumb exercises the way I want.”

“Fine, if you want to risk your health, just do what you want. Then do 20 of your terribly, wrong hip raises,” Mark scoffs and crawls back to his own mat and complete the warm-up.

They finish with a strange atmosphere between them. Mark wonders if it’s going to be that way for the next two months. He also might regret all of his life decisions so far.

“So we will start our training with-“

“What do you mean ‘start our training’? We literally worked out for half an hour.”

“That was just the warm-up. It doesn’t count as training.”

“This is so unfair!”

“It’s just normal. You will get used to it with time.”

“We will do this _every day_?” he questions with a hint of despair on his face.

“_Every day_,” Mark confirms.

“I can’t believe how sport works,” the kid grumbles and crosses his arms in front of his chest.

“As I was about to say, we’re starting with an endurance run. Running is a pretty big thing here. Different distances, different target times, intervals, you will come across everything while being here. So let’s start with a slow but long run. Ready?”

“No.”

“Good, let's go,” Mark says and starts to run. But soon he realizes that the kid isn’t following and instead is still glued to the spot, looking fretty. So the older makes his way back and offers a questioning look to the boy.

“I don't run without a reason,” he simply states.

“A reason?”

“Yes, like there’s no bear chasing me, so what is the benefit of running?”

“The benefit would be you passing the entrance exam,” Mark explains and has a hard time once again to remain calm. Jaebum would have torn this boy to shreds already.

“I will pass. In preparation for this I read a lot about sports in general.”

“You actually know that reading about running doesn’t equal running, right?” Mark asks skeptically.

“My IQ is 128, of course I know. But it will help me.”

In this moment a group of girls from Mark’s anatomy class walks by. They are greeting him and waving at him, all happy and giggly. Even though it’s summer break, there are still students who didn’t leave the campus for it or who return occasionally to continue their training.

After the short interaction he focuses his attention back on Jinyoung to carry on their discussion.

“You still need to do the exercises. Your muscles, if there are any, won’t know how to work just from your brain knowing. Also the exam is pretty much physical so better get your ass on the running track, kid.” And with this Mark starts to race away. He hears low grumbling behind him but also the sound of Jinyoung’s footsteps.

After a minute he turns around to check on the boy. “Can you try to run faster than a three-legged turtle? Maybe?”

“You said we would be running slowly,” he pants as he stumbles towards his waiting coach. The younger looks already like he finished a marathon today.

“Yeah, slow, but not backwards. Come on! Run kid, run!”

Mark mainly works through running exercises with Jinyoung that day. He would have loved to cover more but the younger’s stamina doesn’t allow it. So Mark decides to call it a day.

As soon as the older announces the end of the training session, Jinyoung breaks down on the tartan track, heavily gasping for air and drenched with sweat.

“I can’t believe this is the training. This is so hard. Why did you choose such hard exercises for the first day? Mean!” he rants between gasps.

“Hard? These were mere basics,” Mark answers, baffled.

“Do you want to make me cry?”

He chuckles a bit at Jinyoung’s helplessness. Maybe this arrangement will turn out to be okay, if he gives it a bit more time. At least he hopes so. “Come on, I walk you to your dorm room.”

“No, it’s fine. I go by myself….. in a bit. After my lungs are catching up on their workload.”

Mark laughs again while he observes Jinyoung’s pitiful state. He walks closer and holds out his hand for Jinyoung to grab. “Don't be stubborn. Come on, kid. I help you up.”

“It’s okay, just leave me here. I’m super fine. I just breathe a little. Just hanging out…. only my friend oxygen and I.”

Mark sighs. He doesn’t want to leave the younger lying on the ground out here. After all he's responsible for Jinyoung and his well-being while they are working out together.

“Caution, I will touch you now. Don’t freak out.” In one swift move, Mark grabs his arms and loops them around his neck before he reaches back to take hold of Jinyoung’s thighs so he can give him a proper piggyback ride. Fortunately the younger seems to be too exhausted to fight him, at least physically.

“W-W-What are you doing?” He is so flustered. Mark doesn’t see his face but his voice says it all.

“Bringing you back to your dorm room,” Mark answers matter-of-factly as he starts to walk off the track.

“B-But that’s not necessary. And it’s embarrassing,” he fusses.

“Nobody is here to see. Also you worked hard on your first day. You did a good job. This is my way of appreciating it.”

There is a pause with nothing but breathing coming from the boy on his back. “Fine,” he eventually mumbles.

The older carries him all the way to the door of his dorm room before he lets him down.

“Okay, kid. We will meet outside by the benches tomorrow at 9:00 am. Sleep well.”

“Yeah.” The quiet murmur reaches Mark’s ear as he walks away from the tired boy.

Behind two more corners, he runs into Jaebum's kid in the corridor.

“Hey, hi.”

“You're talking to _me_?” the other asks in surprise.

“Yeah, nobody else is here, right? You're Jaebum’s kid.”

“Yes, my name is BamBam.”

“Yes, yes right. BamBam. Nice to meet you. I'm Mark. How was your first day?”

“Uhm...uh…umm,” he beats around the bush.

“What is it? Any problems?”

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Sure.”

“I don't think this will work out. Jaebum is constantly yelling and that makes me yell back at him. Not the best combination.”

“Don't worry too much. Jaebum is a nice guy. You will realize when you get to know him better. Don't give up that quickly.”

“You really think so?”

“Absolutely. Don't be discouraged, okay? You'll be doing great.”

“Uhm… okay. If you say so. Thank you,” the boy mumbles while his eyes are pinned on the floor.

“Hey, you're sharing a room with Jinyoung, right?”

The other boy nods.

“I just brought him to your room and, well.... he's not in the best condition. So it would be nice, if you could tell him to use the sauna now. There’s a whole spa in the cellar for the students to use. It will prevent him from getting too bad of a muscle ache tomorrow.”

“Sure, I can do that. But why won't _you_ tell him that?”

“I don't think he would listen to me. He's.... well, he's a bit stubborn but maybe he would listen to another smart kid. So please take care of him, okay?”

“You're so nice,” he says in awe.

“Oh...uhm... not over-the-top, really. I just want him to be able to walk tomorrow, for training and stuff.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Good, take care Bam- Wait, can I call you Bam?”

“You can call me anything you want.”

“What?”

“Uhm, nothing. What are you up to now?”

“I didn't had time to complete my extra training today so I will do that now.”

“But didn't you exercise with Jinyoung?”

“Yes, but that wasn't enough. I have to put in more effort to get better.”

“Oh... okay, don’t overwork yourself. Take care.”

“You too. Sleep well, Bam.”

# # # #

“Good morning, I assume you didn’t hit the sauna last night, like BamBam advised you to?” Mark asks as a hobbling Jinyoung approaches him at their meeting point.

“No, but…. how do you know about that?”

“I asked him to tell you that, since I was sure you wouldn’t listen to me. Turns out you don’t listen to anyone. Well… too bad,” Mark casually comments and shrugs his shoulders.

“I decided that it wouldn’t be necessary,” the boy huffs and crosses his arms in front of his chest, displaying defiance.

“And your clever decision resulted in you having the finest of all muscle aches today. Am I correct, One-Two-Eight?”

The response comes as an indefinite grunt combined with a glare.

“Whatever. Not my problem. Let’s go inside. We’re starting our training there today.”

Mark leads the sulky boy into one of the many private training rooms. Every room is furnished with selected gym equipment and also provides a space to do warm-up and floor exercises.

“Okay, since your muscles are _obviously_ sore we will do a light training today to prevent overstraining them even more. Or else it could come to scarring of the tissue and we definitely want to avoid that.”

Jinyoung just remains his silent and pouty self. Mark doesn’t care, he simply starts with his warm-up exercises, doing some which they already practiced the previous day, and also mixing in a few new ones. When it comes to the hip raises, Mark beholds his student with a lot of skepticism.

“Oh, it’s lovely to see you doing these exercises all wrong again. Truly lovely.”

“Shut up. It hurts because of the muscle ache-“

“You admit the muscle ache!”

“Never said they wouldn’t ache. No miracle, considering the way you tormented me yesterday.”

“Tormented? I was going easy on you.”

“Don’t believe you. Anyway, talking is not good for the stiffness. It hurts more that way.”

“It hurts because you do the hip raises wrong. Your back will start to ache at some point as well. But I’m sure you choose to not believe me.”

“Exactly.”

“Then go on, kid.”

Mark is determined to use the time with Jinyoung as best as he can to also include his own training. Therefore he completes every exercise along with the boy. “So now give me some push-ups.” He moves into the basic position for push-ups and observes how Jinyoung follows suit, not without a muttered complaint of course. “Arms further apart. More. Still a little more. Good. Go!” Mark starts with the first push-up and slowly counts. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.” He looks up to monitor Jinyoung’s progress but is surprised when he sees the younger lying on his belly with his chin propped in his palm while he stares at Mark. “What the heck, kid? You’re supposed to do the exercises together with me,” Mark rants.

“I can’t do so many push-ups. It hurts and my arms tremble already,” he explains matter-of-factly.

Mark sighs defeated. “How many did you manage?”

“A half.”

“A half?”

“Yep.”

“We….. oh my god, we have _so_ much work left to do,” Mark murmurs and tries his best not to sound as dejected as he feels.

“How many push-ups can you do?” he suddenly asks, his eyes round and curious.

“I don’t know. I usually stop after 60.”

“You’re a monster,” the younger comments in obvious amazement.

“No, I just exercise properly.”

“Do you usually exercise in those tank tops?”

“Yes? Why are you asking?”

“Uhm, no reason. Are we done with the warm-up?”

# # # #

“Good morning, Jackson,” Mark greets the boy next day. He and Jaebum are approaching the other who waits at their usual hangout place, the benches outside the gymnasium.

“Mark, Jaebum, good morning,” the boy happily calls. “Are you excited for the new day? How is it going with your kids?”

“Excited isn't the word I would choose to describe what I feel,” Jaebum grumbles. “I feel rather exhausted. BamBam is problematic. He always screams and whines the whole time.”

“Are you sure that you're not part of the problem there?” Jackson interrogates while obvious doubt is displayed on his face.

“Very sure,” the older hisses. “I don't even think he's a brainy kid. I mean how could he not understand the simplest orders? I say 'jump high' and he just doesn't jump high. He seems pretty dumb to me. I think he is an imposter.” Mark and Jackson look at him with raised eyebrows.

“Uhm... Jaebum, maybe he doesn't jump high enough because he simply can't do it yet. He has to practice first to be able to accomplish what you ask of him,” Mark suggests carefully.

“No, I think he does it because he wants to piss me off. That brat. But not on my watch. I just yell at him until he does what I want.”

Mark and Jackson now exchange a very concerned gaze with each other. Maybe BamBam needs to be saved from Jaebum, if they don't somehow make a miracle happen and pull themselves together.

“Okaaaaayyyyyy,” Jackson pipes up, obviously determined to make an end to the current awkwardness. “So Mark, what about your kid?”

“I don't know. He's stubborn and a little smartass. It's difficult so far.”

“No improvement?”

“I wouldn't say none at all. He at least tries.... sometimes.... I think. But yeah, baby steps. How about you?”

“I love my babies. They are sweet and adorable. My tall baby Yugyeomie is not doing so bad with all the athletic challenges. Sometimes he doesn't know what to do with his long limbs but the rest is fine. I always give out snacks after they finish a training session successfully and that seems to motivate him very much. I'm a bit worried about my smiley, sunny baby Youngjae though. He falls down a lot.”

“Just like that?” Jaebum asks astounded.

“Oh.... yeah, just like that. Maybe the earth spins a little faster sometimes and Youngjae is the only one who's sensitive enough to notice. He's _that_ special, you know?”

“Yeah, or he's hella clumsy.”

“Im Jaebum, don’t say that about him!” Jackson rants, his happy attitude is nowhere to be found now. “He just needs to practice a bit more.”

“Practice to do basic human activities?”

“Pssst! Don’t let my baby hear your needless pessimism. He puts a lot of effort into everything and he will do wonderful in his entrance exam. You won’t discourage him. Are we clear?”

“Fine, whatever you say. Not my problem anyway,” Jaebum agrees with a shrug. “But Jackson, you know they aren't real kids... like kiddy kids right? Like...you know.... _babies_.”

“Shut up, I love them and want to adopt them,” the blond huffs sulkily.

Mark already regrets that he rolled out of bed this morning. But there's no way back. At least he could try to change the subject to something less explosive, he thinks. “Hey, Mr. Nam gave me the list of the entrance exam disciplines. They actually depart from the standard quite a bit.” Mark shows the piece of paper to both of his friends.

“True, they cut several disciplines. So it's mainly track and field and artistic gymnastics left. Oh and there's still basketball,” Jackson points out.

“Yeah, it makes sense,” Mark thinks out loud. “It would be impossible to prepare the boys in two months for all the regular disciplines. They go easy on them.”

“So they get special treatment. Great,” Jaebum grumbles.

“The headmaster seems to be and idiot when he thinks we need special treatment,” they hear Jinyoung's voice say. They turn around to see their four students walking up to them.

“Please go ahead and tell him,” Jaebum suggests before he murmurs quietly, “Then we would have one nerd less to take care off.”

“Nah, I don't feel like pointing out the obvious,” the boy declines and adjusts his glasses.

“Babies, are you feeling good this morning?” Happy Jackson is suddenly back. Mark wonders, if the two younger boys aren't grossed out by him but it doesn't seem to be the case as they greet each other with their special handshake.

“Good morning, Mark,” BamBam greets with a smile.

“Good morning, Bam. How are you feeling?”

“Oh, pretty good-”

“Hey, you're _my_ student. I am here, too, you know?” Jaebum butts in.

“Yeah, unfortunately you are,” the Thai boy scoffs.

“HOW DARE YOU?”

“DON'T YELL AT ME FIRST THING IN THE MORNING!”

“DON'T BE A PEST FIRST THING IN THE MORNING!”

“Okay, we all don't want to hear you yelling, freaking first thing in the morning. Calm down,” Mark steps in and both boys look the tiniest bit ashamed.

“Hey Jackson, can I have a snack?” Yugyeom asks. He flashes him big puppy eyes while he excitedly bounces up and down.

“Yugyeomie, you just had breakfast, right? And also.... you're eating right now. What are you even eating right after breakfast?”

“Just a croissant,” the boy states casually before he gobbles down the last bit of it.

“Okay, you will get more snacks after you finished the first part of training today. Are you excited?”

“YES!” Youngjae confirms enthusiastically and raises his fist.

“That's my baby,” his coach praises.

“I just hope the ground won't hurt me so much today.”

“Yes, the bad, bad ground,” Jackson whines and pats the giggly boy's head. “But baby-Jae, don't be discouraged just because it will be a new day full of gravitational force. We will overcome this, okay?” Youngjae nods and beams at his coach. “Awesome. Now come on my babies- Yugyeomie? What are you eating _now_?”

“Just some licorice. Tiny portion. I swear.”

“Okaaayyy, anyway. Training, now. Bye guys, see you later,” the blond calls out to the rest of them before he and his two students are leaving.

Mark thinks that Jackson must be a great teacher. He's not half as worried about Yugyeom and Youngjae as he is about BamBam. Or even Jinyoung at that point, who is now eyeing him with a certain amount of suspicion.

“What?”

“You greeted BamBam but you ignore _me_.”

“Because your first sentence today was a snarky remark about somebody else's intelligence. We talked about that.”

“The headmaster wasn't even present.”

“Still!” Mark insists. “Learn some respect, kid. And while we're at it, I hope you'll also learn to do hip raises properly because that is what we are doing now. Warm-up time.”

Jinyoung pulls a wry face but still follows Mark without another word of resistance. At least they came this far, Mark thinks.

# # # #

It’s day five of their little project and the situation is still difficult. Jinyoung is still Jinyoung, and Mark tries his best to not freak out with his glitches in attitude. Though he thinks that the younger also tries to refine himself. Sometimes he catches him, looking like he wants to give a snarky answer and then decides to keep it in. The blond is thankful every time that happens. Nevertheless, Jinyoung still showcases enough mockery to test Mark's patience on an hourly basis.

But at least his relationship with the stubborn boy developed. BamBam and Jaebum are still yelling at each other way too often. Jackson on the other hand is living his best life with his ‘babies’. They are bouncing around, all smiles and sunshine, like a happy little family.

“Okay One-Two-Eight, after you completed your warm-up exercises absolutely wrong again, we're ready to tackle today's training session.”

“Won't you ever let that slide?”

“No, not until you stop being a stubborn idiot.”

“I'm not an idiot! My IQ is-”

“128, yes I know. Then come on, stubborn genius. We will do something interesting today.”

Mark ushers the boy into their respective training room.

“You want me to perform a vault?” the younger asks flabbergasted when he spots the prepared equipment.

“I indeed want you to perform a vault. That's correct.”

“I.... I can't.”

“Sure you can.”

“I can't. It's too high. And too dangerous. I will fall. I will hurt myself. It's impossible,” he starts to fuss.

“Kid, you have to try to find out, if you can do it or not. How would you know?” Mark asks, smiling at the scared boy while he gently rubs his arm.

“I know I can't. I won't even get over this thing. I need wings to jump high enough.”

“There's a springboard.”

“Mark! You don't get it. I will fling myself against that thing and I will get hurt and... and-” Mark realizes that serious panic seizes the boy. He needs to calm him down. Jinyoung can't freak out before he even tried. That would have only contra productive effects. Instead he needs to feel a success so that his confidence in his own physical abilities increases.

“Hey, hey, Jinyoung, breathe,” Mark says in a calm tone. He faces the fussing boy and now puts both his hands on his shoulders to gently squeeze them. “You won't get hurt. You can do it. You just have to believe in yourself. You only can do it, if you trust yourself. But you should know that I definitely put my trust in you. I know you can lift yourself up to the highest highs and propel yourself over this stupid vaulting table. You can show this stupid vaulting table how superior you are. I believe in you.”

“You.... do?” Jinyoung asks in obvious amazement.

“Of course. Otherwise I wouldn't ask you to do it. The bravest thing for you to do was coming here to this college, announcing that you would try to achieve your goal even though the task is difficult. And you already accomplished this. In comparison to this, this stupid vaulting table is not much to overcome. It can't stop you, right?”

“I maybe could do it....,” he hesitantly utters. Uncertainty is still visible in his big, blinking eyes but there is happening something in his mind. “Yeah, maybe I really could...”

Mark can't believe it. His motivational speech really seemed to work. He hoped for this result but was so unsure about his success. His chances to be able to fight through Jinyoung's natural stubbornness seemed rather low.

“No Jinyoung, you _can_! Okay listen. I will wait for you on the other side. You just have to fly towards me. And if you might stumble a bit during the landing, I will catch you, okay? Nothing bad will happen to you.”

Jinyoung's mind is racing, Mark is almost able to see it as much as he senses it. After a long pause, the boy is nodding cautiously. “I think I can do it.”

“YAAAY!” Mark celebrates and wraps his arms around the astounded Jinyoung. “That's the spirit. You gonna fly!”

“Okay,” the younger whispers. Mark pulls away a little to see his face, only to spot a shy smile on it. It's a very handsome face, Mark suddenly realizes when he's close enough to see every little perfection of his facial features.

The blond swiftly breaks the hug and gives the boy an encouraging pat on the back before he takes his spot on the other side of the vaulting table. He positions himself and spreads his arms wide. Jinyoung is obviously tense. He chews on his bottom lip almost violently as he stares at the obstacle in front of him with furrowed eyebrows. He's probably still inwardly debating, if he really should try it or not. But Mark really wants him to try. He's sure that the boy is capable of achieving this intermediate goal when he just believes in himself enough.

The older flashes the kid his brightest smile when he calls out, “Come on Jinyoung! I'm waiting for you.”

And indeed, the younger quickly nods and starts to run towards the vaulting table. Mark thinks that he never saw him running that fast and with so much power before. It seems like there's a brand new Jinyoung in front of his eyes when he vigorously hurtles onto the springboard and pushes himself off it. His hands are reaching the vaulting table, pushing himself up even higher so that his feet aren't touching the obstacle. He's flying over the piece of sports equipment as if it would be nothing. In his face, the older spots surprise and happiness lighting up his features.

But maybe he used a bit too much strength. When he lands, the boy can't even stay for a split second on his feet. Instead he stumbles right into Mark's waiting arms and knocks him over in the process.

“Whoooahh,” the boy whispers into Mark's chest as he now lies on top of him on the mat.

“Hey, kid?” Mark struggles to ask. The additional weight on him makes its presence felt. Also he's still a little confused after the forced landing. Jinyoung pulls his face out of Mark's tank top just to let his chin rest on the older's chest. He looks at him with round, dark eyes, so pretty that Mark thinks he sees them for the first time ever with such an intense shine in them.

“Hmmm?”

“Where are your glasses?”

“Oh... I probably lost them somewhere in between flying and crashing,” he giggles.

“Oh no, I hope they're not broken. Do you see anything at all now?”

“My eyesight is perfect.”

“But.... why the glasses?”

“Just for the heck of it. Everyone should be able to tell I am smart just by only so much as glancing at me.”

“You're such a fraud,” Mark scoffs and receives another bubbling laughter from the younger. “Hey, kid?”

“Hmmm?”

“YOU MADE IT!” Mark yells happily and loops his arms around him to squeeze the shit out of the boy. Jinyoung answers with a cascade of cute giggles. Only when Mark trashes him around a little, noises of protest are coming from him.

“Ouch ouch ouch ouch!”

Mark stops to examine him. “What's up? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Yes, my knee,” he whines and sits up so that he's comfortably seated on Mark's middle. “I think I scraped it.”

“What? How? You landed on me and on a freaking mat.” The younger climbs off Mark and beholds the respective knee, his face full of sorrow. “Kid, it just reddened a little bit. It's not scraped. It will turn into a tiny bruise at the most,” Mark reasons after sitting up.

“Noooo, look! I think it will bleed. Look! Is this blood already?” he fusses.

“No, it's not.”

“Mark, do something about it! I think it's really bad. Maybe it's broken.”

“Your knee isn't broken, trust me. But if you insist, we can go to the infirmary and I will put a band-aid on.... _your wound_.”

“Yes, I think that would be good,” the younger whimpers.

Mark stands up and dusts himself down before he leaves the mat. But when he notices that Jinyoung doesn't move, he stops. “Aren't you coming?”

“I don't think I can walk by myself.”

“Jinyoung, stop exaggerating,” the older says and offers a thorough eye roll.

“I'm nooooooooooot.”

“Fine,” Mark gives in before the younger could whine any more. He crouches down in front of him, his back facing the boy. “Hop on. You know the drill already.”

“Yes.” And with what feels like a bit too much enthusiasm, Jinyoung gets on his back and Mark starts to carry him towards their new destination.

During the summer break there's no teacher or nurse on duty in the infirmary but the basic supplies are still accessible for the students and free for them to use. When they arrive, Mark realizes they are not the only ones in need of medical supplies.

There's Jackson, sitting next to a not as happy as usual Youngjae and dabs a cut on his elbow with a wad of cotton. On another chair sits Yugyeom, acting like he's absolutely unimpressed by his bleeding friend, while he happily munches away on a sandwich.

“Hey guys, what's up?” Mark asks while he carefully puts Jinyoung down on a chair opposite of them.

“My baby-Jae fell down and hurt his elbow. We have to fix this quickly,” Jackson explains, making a face as if he would feel the pain even worse than Youngjae himself.

“I told you, it's not that bad,” Youngjae assures him with a soft smile while he gently pats Jackson's hair with the hand of his healthy arm.

“Nooo, baby, I let you fall down and I'm sorry.”

The boy only giggles cutely. “How is it your fault? It just happened because I didn't focus as much as I was supposed to. But it's only a little cut, not the end of the world.”

“My brave baby,” Jackson wails and looks like he's ready to break into tears. Mark and Jinyoung only exchange an astounded look with raised eyebrows but decide to not comment. Instead Mark quietly crouches down in front of Jinyoung to disinfect the red skin on Jinyoung's knee, not because it's necessary but because it would make the boy feel better.

“I can't believe you tripped. It was so easy and still you tripped,” Jaebum fusses when he enters the room with a limping BamBam behind him.

“And I can't believe the lack of information and instruction you give before we approach a new exercise,” the Thai boy nags before he plops down into a chair.

“What's up with _you_?” Jackson asks.

“He has legs like a freaking giraffe. How is it that he won't get over these hurdles? Can you believe it? He just trips and almost knots his giraffe-legs together,” Jaebum grumbles, still very outraged.

“Are you okay, Bam?” Mark asks, ignoring his friend's speech.

“Yeah, only a few scratches,” the boy reveals. “Thank you.” BamBam sends him a smile filled with gratitude. Mark is glad that he's not seriously injured.

“Can you maybe continue, Mark? I think my knee is still broken,” Jinyoung nags. The older rolls his eyes before he mutters a “sure it is”.

“Wow, you really want to tell me that they all hurt themselves?” Jaebum continues to rant when he takes a proper look around. “We honestly should believe they are brainy kids? They seem like a bunch of dumbasses.”

“Jaebum, get a hold of yourself!” Mark hisses.

“Yeah, don't be a bully,” Jackson chimes in.

“Why are you always so angry?” BamBam snaps at his coach.

“Why are _you_ so angry _now_?” Jaebum wonders.

“I just can't stand listening to your bullshit any more.”

“I'M GONNA SMACK YOU OUT OF THE ORBIT, YOU-.... wait, why am I fighting with a lamp post?”

“Jaebum!” Mark warns again. He has no idea what his problem is. BamBam seems to be a perfectly nice kid.

“You think you can utilize a few insults and that would make you intimidating? Pah!” BamBam taunts.

“You think _you_ can use a difficult word and think I would believe you're smart? Pah!”

The Thai boy shakes his head in disbelief. “You're atrocious.”

“Mark, he's using a difficult word to confuse me!” Jaebum suddenly whines and looks at Mark with pleading eyes. He always acts like he's such a tough guy but Mark knows deep down he's still a kid who has some growing up left to do.

“Yeah okay,” Mark sighs. “Maybe we all should calm down.”

“Absolutely. My babies are getting scared,” Jackson agrees.

“No, I'm just getting hungry,” Yugyeom butts in.

“This is a mess, created by a single caveman,” Jinyoung says dismissively and rolls his eyes.

“Shut up, or I break all your nerdy bones,” Jaebum hisses at Jinyoung.

“Jaebum, a last time now, snap the fuck out of it,” Mark grumbles.

“You can't touch me. Mark will protect me,” Jinyoung taunts the fuming Jaebum and on top of it offers a feline, self-satisfied smile.

“What makes you think so?” Mark asks him in amazement.

“You're responsible for me. You can't let me die.”

“That's true,” the blond confirms with an acknowledging nod.

“If I can't put my hands on him, then it's you against me, Mark. Come on!” Jaebum suddenly challenges him, looking all feisty.

Mark deadpans. “Tell me one good reason why we should beat each other up?”

“Whoooaaah! You're right, I almost got tricked. The evil, brainy kid really is brainy... _and_ evil.”

“Gosh! What a well phrased realization,” Jinyoung mocks.

“Watch it, boy!”

“What can I do if you're not even capable of finishing a simple thinking process on your own? Even your own stupidity tries to run away from you.”

“Jinyoung!” Mark immediately scolds.

“SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR NERDY BONES,” Jaebum yells and tries to launch himself on Jinyoung. Gladly Mark and Jackson are quick enough to hold him back.

“THAT'S ENOUGH!” Mark rarely raises his voice but when he does everyone is immediately alarmed, knowing that the situation is a serious one. “I can't believe how you both are behaving. Learn to control your tempers and your mouths and use your damn heads! Behaving like ignorant kids won't help anyone. This is really so disappointing. I hope the both of you will reflect on your immature actions and try to treat each other like normal humans. Until then I don't want either of you speaking to me,” Mark finishes his scolding. He throws a quick glare at Jaebum and then at Jinyoung before he turns around to stomp out of the room.

# # # #

Mark is muttering in his dorm room while he's twisting and turning on his bed. He can't get over the fact that Jinyoung and Jaebum treated each other with so little respect. They are all in this thing together, Mark thinks. They are all in this project, trying to make it work. So the least they could do is sticking together and make the best of it. But those dumbasses are just continuing to fight for no reason, making it difficult for everyone.

Mark would ponder over this until the world comes to an end. But before that happens, he hears a soft knock on the door, followed by Jinyoung's muffled voice. “Mark? Are you there? Can I come in...... please?”

A few seconds go by as the older purposely keeps the boy outside in suspense. Then he answers curtly. “Come in.”

A seemingly tamed Jinyoung enters the room. After he closed the door behind himself, he just lingers there at the entrance, eyes flitting across the room, avoiding Mark at all costs.

The older sighs and sits up. “Come over here, Jinyoung.”

Obviously relieved by the invitation, the boy scurries across the room and takes a seat on the edge of the bed before his eyes finally meet Mark's.

“Hey,” he softly says.

“Hey.”

“Are you still angry?”

“Yep.”

“Okay... cool, I mean no, not cool but...uhm...uh-” He interrupts himself to take a deep breath, looking like he's steeling himself for war. “I am very sorry, Mark. I know we talked about my attitude and I really try to change. You have to believe me, I really _do_ try. But Jaebum acted so mean earlier that I couldn't hold myself back.”

That's surprising. Mark didn't even expect so much reason from him. But still there is more he wants to hear. “I know but that's no excuse for-”

“I know. I don't want to bluff it out. I just wanted to explain to you what happened. After you were gone we all were kind of dumbstruck. We realized that you were right and we talked it out. I apologized to Jaebum and he apologized to me.”

“Honestly?” Mark interrogates flabbergasted.

“Yes, honestly. I think we will get on with each other better from now on.”

“Oh.... that's good.”

“Yeah, I think so, too,” he says and offers a tiny smile for the first time since he entered this room. “Jaebum was very devastated when you left. It seems like the one thing which really defeats him is you being mad at him. Such a softie,” he scoffs.

“Yes, he really is,” the blond confirms, also smiling. “Jinyoung, I'm very proud of you. It's such a big step for you to apologize. I assume it wasn't easy but you did it anyway. Great job.”

Now there appears genuine joy on the younger's face. He looks so cute like that. Mark can't resist the urge to reach out and pat his head. The boy is surprised at first but he doesn't flinch. A second later he's over it and even nudges his head more into Mark's palm, like a needy cat. Mark finds that rather sweet.

“By the way, we never looked for your glasses.”

“We will continue training now, right? We can look for them now. But I don't think I will wear them from now on. It's a bit difficult to exercise like this.”

“Oh... okay. You're probably right.”

“Of course I am, my IQ is 128,” he shoots back with a teasing grin and Mark can't suppress his upcoming laugh.

# # # #

The following two weeks with Jinyoung went by slightly less difficult. He still had his moments of rebellion and stubbornness but Mark saw that he truly tried to change his attitude towards this whole situation. He also started to put noticeably more effort into the exercises after Mark preached again and again how important it is to follow a reasonable training schedule. So they at least kind of made do with each other, even though their days were still laced with little arguments and some bickering.

But Mark really don't want to complain. He even came to like hanging out with Jinyoung quite a bit. The younger is truly quick-witted and that makes their little banters more fun than anything else. They shared a lot of laughter with each other and Mark enjoyed to see the pretty smile bloom on Jinyoung's face every single time, even though he never would openly admit that to anybody, not even to himself.

Jinyoung is just about to complete a sequence of exercises on the bars. Mark demonstrated it to him multiple times before and they practiced every single detail of it for hours. Mark was always right beside Jinyoung, ready to catch him in case it would be necessary.

Now Jinyoung does the dismount from the bars and it looks not that smooth and his landing is wobbly and he stumbles a bit, but he completed it and didn't even fall.

He turns to Mark, looking at him with a gleam of pride in his eyes. “What do you say?”

“Well... not necessarily pretty but definitely rare,” Mark jokes and his lackadaisical comment elicits an immediate pout from the younger.

“What do you mean? I tried so hard-”

“I know! I was just making fun of you. Sorry, you did an awesome job just now,” Mark cheers and spreads his arms wide. Without hesitation, Jinyoung finds a home in his embrace, smiling widely at the praise of his coach.

“I did it all by myself now.”

“Exactly. You can do anything, if you're brave enough and put effort into it. You just proved that to yourself.”

The younger shyly buries his head in the crook of Mark's neck. “It seems so,” he whispers against the blond's skin as he wraps his arms around Mark even tighter.

“I'm so proud of you, kid. Of course we still have to work on fine-tuning the execution, but these are details,” Mark says while he nuzzles the younger's hair a bit.

Jinyoung pulls his face out of his hiding spot to meet Mark's eyes. They are still tightly hugging so their faces are only centimeters apart. Mark swallows. This boy is really so breathtakingly handsome. “You think I can do it?” Jinyoung asks, his words laced with hope but also uncertainty.

“I am convinced that you can achieve anything, Jinyoung. You will ace your entrance exam and amaze those teachers who will monitor.”

The boy smiles, as beautiful as ever, but doesn't make a move to break off from the hug. Instead they are staring at each other in silence. A tingling feeling bubbles up in Mark's stomach and he isn't sure what to do now. It would probably be a wise decision to step away from the situation. But why should he when he enjoys everything about it? The sparkle in Jinyoung's eyes, the curve of his mouth, the feeling of his arms keeping him in place, nothing of it feels uncomfortable in the slightest.

Mark thinks there must be a thousand stars trapped in his eyes, otherwise it wouldn't be possible to radiate such shininess. But his train of thoughts is interrupted when those glittery eyes suddenly glance down. Is he looking at his lips? It feels like a heat wave rolls through Mark's body. The mere thought of it is enough to set him on fire.

“Hey guys, do you mind, if we share the training room with you?”

At the sudden sound of voices coming from the door, both boys flinch away from each other. Mark sees two of his fellow first year students walking in, Sooyoung and Woohyun.

“N-No, of course not,” Mark stammers. “A-Are you here for some summer practice?”

“Yes,” the boy confirms. “But it seems like there are a few people who had the same idea so it's a bit crowded.”

“Wait, are you one of the smart kids who are supposed to enter next semester?” the girl addresses Jinyoung.

Jinyoung is partly hiding behind Mark. When the latter looks at him, all the beauty in his expression has vanished. The younger boy is scowling at the new arrivals and only answers her question with an affirmative nod.

“Wow, amazing. It must be difficult to start from scratch.”

“Who says I'm starting from scratch?” Jinyoung snaps and Mark beholds him with an alarmed look, not knowing what is causing the sudden change of mood.

“Oh... uhm, I just thought that, uhm... because you're smart and probably study a lot that you don't have much time for doing sports,” she says, obviously taken aback by the tone of Jinyoung's question.

“I'm highly gifted. I don't need to study. I'm not like the common people.”

The boy and the girl exchange a surprised look with each other.

“Jinyoung!” Mark hisses.

“What? It's the truth.”

“The truth is also that you are indeed starting from scratch when it comes to doing sports, right?”

“So you're also against me now? Great, Mark. Just great,” the boy grumbles and turns around to run out of the room.

Mark gazes after him, not having the slightest idea what just happened. “Uhm, sorry guys. Please forget about that. He can be a very sweet kid. I guess the stress of training is eating at him,” Mark apologizes on his behalf. His fellow students nod at him a little solemnly before Mark turns around to chase after Jinyoung.

“JINYOUNG?,” Mark yells. “HEY, JINYOUNG!” Gladly Mark is still a lot faster than the younger and is able to catch up with him before he can disappear somewhere on the campus.

When he reaches the boy he grabs him by his arm to make him turn around. The look on his face surprises the blond. Jinyoung's expression screams sadness and anger and also disappointment all at once. There might be even tears glistening in his dark eyes, though Mark could be wrong about that.

“Jinyoung, what the heck is up with you?”

“Nothing's up. I'm just the nerd and you're the athlete,” he spits bitterly.

“What?”

“And of course you would rather hang out with your athlete friends. Who would want to hang out with me, huh? Just go and be with the cool kids while I can read a fucking book about fucking insects or something. I bet you would find such joy in bitching with them about my nerdiness.”

“What are you even saying? Nothing of this is true. Why do you have so many prejudices in the first place?”

“It’s people like you who made my life freaking hard so far. It’s always people like you who think they are something better just because they can run fast and lift weights and have biceps and can bully others.”

“People like _me_? Athletes you mean?”

“Yes! So just go to your athlete friends. It's obvious that you prefer them to me.”

“What the heck? So you think I am the type to bully others just because I'm good at sports?” Mark asks the boy, fuming because the frustration is just overwhelming. “Did you witness me doing something like that even _once_? Do you honestly think I would look down on others because they are different from me?” he rants.

“You’re an athlete,” the boy declares as if this would explain it all.

“Can you stop the prejudices for a minute at least? Just look at me as a person. Drop the athlete-thing and tell me, if you think I ever bullied somebody.”

“I…. don’t know. Maybe…. maybe not,” he says meekly and examines the sandy ground.

“Definitely not! Kid, for somebody this smart you have pretty dumb moments.”

“But your athlete friends will bully me and when you see them doing it, you will do it as well. Peer pressure works like that, Mark.”

“Okay, stop right there. First of all, I'm not friends with bullies. Athletes or not, when somebody finds joy in making others miserable, they automatically disqualify themselves as my friend. Also what is all this talk about me preferring my athlete friends to you? I think you and I get along good enough to become friends as well. So I really don't understand what's the fuss about. And last but not least, I'm so sorry to hear that bullies gave you a hard time in the past but that doesn't mean it has to be the same everywhere you go. You don't deserve to be bullied, nobody does. But also please don't give others a reason to do so. The moment you call anybody stupid and make fun of their brainpower, you invite them to be nasty to you. Because you're not nice to them either. We talked about mutual respect, right? You really have to take that to heart, not only towards me but anybody.”

Jinyoung is quiet for a minute, trying to perceive Mark's words.

“I didn't call them stupid just now,” he sulkily says.

“You used the words 'not like the common people' and suggested that way they would be kind of dumb because they actually have to study, like most of world population by the way.”

“But it's true.”

“Kid, it's how you phrase things and in what tone you address people which can either save your life or make it hell. Sooyoung and Woohyun didn't mean to belittle your physical abilities. They only wanted to know how things are going for you, in a nice way.”

“But I thought they wanted to point out how superior they are in that field,” Jinyoung defends himself.

“So you shot back with pointing out how superior your intelligence is?”

Jinyoung nods sheepishly. Mark beholds the boy, trying to be as objective as possible. He doesn't know the extent of bullying which Jinyoung had to go through so far. But he's sure that these experiences made it difficult for him to distinguish between hostility and friendly concern. They have to work on that, too.

Mark sighs and puts his arm around Jinyoung's shoulder before he walks him over to their set of benches.

“Come here, sit down with me for a bit.” They take a seat, sitting closely next to each other. Jinyoung looks still sad but the anger seems to be replaced by confusion.

“Jinyoung, it's just not good to simply assume that everybody is against you. I mean, sure, you will meet people who won't accept you for the person you are, probably also here in this college, but you will meet a lot more people who will be perfectly fine with the way you are. But those people, you could easily scare them away by looking down on them. You have to give them a chance or you will ruin everything for yourself,” Mark softly says while he scans the other's face. “Do you understand that?”

Jinyoung nods. “I guess I overdid it a little with the prejudices.”

“Right. Don't worry, we will work this out. You will get the hang of it. It's just important that you hold yourself back a little until that happened, okay? Otherwise I'm seriously worried that a few jerks at this college would shove you into your own locker when they feel offended by you.”

“Are you trying to scare me now?”

“No, I'm just worried. Honestly, after two months in this university you would be SpongeBob-shaped. We don't want that.”

“No, we really don't want that,” the younger giggles. Finally the sadness is gone. “Hey Mark?”

“Hmmm?”

“Would you help me, if people bully me?”

“It depends. If they bully you just because they feel like it, yes, of course I would help you. If they bully you because you made fun of their supposed lack of intelligence, good luck Park JinBob, I won’t come to your rescue.”

“Okay okay,” Jinyoung laughs, “I understood already.”

“Good.”

“Thank you in advance though.”

“No problem, kid. Want to continue our training?”

“Yes, but..... I guess I should apologize to the guy and the girl first.”

A wide smile spreads across Mark's face as he pulls Jinyoung to his feet and into a hug. “That's my boy!”

# # # #

It's been four weeks with Jinyoung and Mark is glad that they have made some serious progress. Jinyoung's athletic achievements are good and the older is satisfied with the development. Though they never talked about the situation in the training room when they were hugging tightly and Jinyoung's dark eyes strayed to Mark's lips. Was that truly a thing or was he imagining stuff which isn't true in Jinyoung's reality? Does Mark even want it to be true? Well, he can't deny the fact that the boy grew on him and he truly enjoys their time together. Also Mark at least admits to himself now that he finds Jinyoung attractive. There might even be feelings. So Mark gets to the conclusion that he indeed would like it, if Jinyoung would have thought about kissing him.

But right now they are taking a break, hanging out on the benches and enjoying the sun while they drink some much appreciated water.

“Hey, taking a break, too?” a full-on sweating BamBam says as he approaches them.

Both guys are only nodding while they are gulping down their drinks.

“Good.” The boy plops down on the bench opposite of them. “I wanted to talk with you anyway. I have a proposition to make.”

The boys are putting their water bottles down while they look at the Thai boy with curious eyes. “Okay?” Mark comments. “What is it?”

“How about we switch it up a little? Like, you know, Mark you could be my coach for the remaining time until the entrance exam and Jinyoung, you could be trained by Jaebum. What do you think?”  
  


“You try to steal what's mine?” Jinyoung hisses, immediately in attack mode.

BamBam and Mark exchange a confused look with each other before Mark turns to his side and asks, “Yours?”

“Sure,” Jinyoung states with new found nonchalance, “I mean somebody obviously thought the teams would be good just like they are now, probably the headmaster. A very clever man, in my opinion. Who are we, to think we know better than the headmaster of this very college?”

“Didn't you say that he seems to be an idiot the last time?” BamBam interrogates.

“I can't remember.”

“But you once said to me that you remember everything,” the boy insists.

“Everything important, yes. Minor details, no. And now go away, Bam. We don't swap coaches.”

“But Mark and I would be a really good team. We vibe with each other and we never fought so far.”

“I don't care. You won't get him!”

“Why, Jinyoung? You guys fight a lot. Just last week I saw you having a huge argument. Let's exchange and try something new,” BamBam reasons.

“No! Good for you, if you and Mark are cool with each other, but I obviously have no interest in being yelled at on a daily basis.”

“Yes, same here.”

“But you're already used to it.”

“Well, that's nice,” BamBam states and for the first time sarcasm wins out in his words.

“Try to think about how nice it is to steal somebody else's coach,” Jinyoung snaps.

“I told you, I just wanted to try it and see, if it would work out better than-”

“I don't care. Mark stays with me. Period!”

“Just trying, Jinyoung!” BamBam still tries to bring his point across. “Since your heart to heart talk went down, Jaebum doesn't want to kill you anymore and that has to count for something. I'm sure you would get along way better than the both of us. And Mark and I hit it off right away-”

“I can't believe you try to get rid of me!” Jaebum suddenly interrupts, appearing out of thin air behind the surprised Thai boy.

“Oh oh!”

“Im Jaebum isn't one to easily get thrown away. Have some respect, boy.”

“I just try to make it easier for all of us, I swear.”

“No way, you're hurting my pride as a coach.”

“And maybe your feelings, too?” Mark suggests to his friend.

“Feelings...,” Jaebum repeats and thinks for a moment about the notion. “Nah! Only my athletic pride. Apologize to me, BamBam.”

“But I was just trying to make it better,” the boy whines helplessly.

“It's fine how it is,” Jinyoung says decisively and crosses his arms on his chest.

“Yeah, it's just fine. Don't decide things on your own, BamBam,” Jaebum agrees with Jinyoung.

“Mark, could you please say something as well? Or do you hate me?” Jinyoung turns to face his coach.

“W-What? N-No! I don't hate you, of course,” Mark splutters at the sudden implication. “I mean, Bam is right, we do get along pretty well. But you and I also got our shit together now. Yes, we bicker but overall we're doing very good. And Bam, it's running smoother with you and Jaebum by now as well, right?”

“Yes, but I thought it would be good to shake things up a little,” he says, pouting. “I didn't intend to hurt or offend anybody. Sorry guys.”

“It's fine, it was just so much out of the blue.” Jinyoung stands up to pat the boy's head. It seems a bit awkward but Mark is proud that his student doesn't plan on being petty about the events.

“Hi guys,” Yugyeom says as he scampers towards them, taking a seat on a third bench.

“Hey, Yugyeomie. Break time?” Mark asks.

“Yas!” the tall boy cheers while he spreads out a variety of snacks next to himself.

“Where are Jackson and Youngjae though?” Jaebum wants to know.

“Jackson said I should go on ahead since they have to talk about some exercise or something.” As soon as he's done talking he pops a piece of gimbap into his mouth.

Jaebum and Mark look at each other with silent agreement before the older starts to talk again.

“So Yugyeom, tell us, is there something going on between Jackson and Youngjae?”

“How should _I_ know?” the boy asks and shrugs casually before he eats a chocolate coated croissant.

“You hang out with them all day,” Jaebum reasons.

“It works like that, Jackson tells me to do some exercises. I do them. He buys me snacks as a reward. Everything else isn't of interest to me.”

“He's a perfectly trained dog,” Jinyoung scoffs.

“So for your information Yugyeomie, Jackson and Youngjae look like they are madly in love with each other,” Mark enlightens him.

“They are flirting the heck out of each other,” Jaebum adds.

“All those smiles and sneaky touches and stuff, it's suspicious,” Mark finishes.

“Why are you telling me all of this?” the tall boy wonders while he shoves a hand full of beef jerky into his mouth.

“The better question is, why did we have to find out by ourselves? You should have reported it to us,” Jaebum claims and points an accusatory index finger at the chewing boy.

“Report what?”

“Are you dumb?”

“Yugyeom has an IQ of 139,” BamBam whispers.

“He hides that pretty well,” Jaebum murmurs.

Suddenly they hear an angry rumble coming from Yugyeom.

“What are these noises?” BamBam asks.

“Oh no, my stomach says it wasn’t a good idea to eat those things all at once.”

“Okay?”

“And I said to my stomach that yeah, I knew beforehand and then he said yeah awesome, you did it anyway right? And I said well, lying is no option I guess, since you would know best and now he only says rar rar.”

“They threaten to kick _me_ out while _this_ is supposed to be the salvation for our college? _THIS?!” _Jaebum rants and vaguely gestures at the tall boy, who's currently busy with trying to figure out how he would get a whole donut into his mouth without losing some of the powdered sugar in the process.

“Wait, do you really want to continue eating?” Jinyoung asks, completely ignoring Jaebum's speech.

“As long as my belly still speaks to me it's not really that bad,” Yugyeom answers as he chews the pastry.

After this very unsuccessful talk, everyone continues their training. Mark and Jinyoung are in the middle of another running session on the track.

It's comfortable to run side by side in the sun, Mark thinks. He also thinks that he likes it a lot how Jinyoung refused to swap coaches, putting up all defenses he had up his sleeve.

“Yugyeomie is truly a miracle. He eats a million calories hidden in two kilograms sugar and fat and still wonders why his stomach acts up. Unbelievable,” Mark laughs.

“Uh-huh.”

“Also the reason why Jackson told him to go ahead is _clearly_ because he wanted to be alone with Youngjae. It's too suspicious. They try to be sneaky but we all know about it, right?”

“Yeah,” Jinyoung pants.

“I mean it's obvious that they have heavy crushes on each other. Those lucky ones.”

“Yes.”

“What's up with you? Are you mad or something?” Mark suddenly questions after he only gets those short answers from Jinyoung which are very rare.

“No, ….but we're running for..... an eternity..... and I try to..... breathe..... I don't have..... the lung capacity....... to talk.”

“Oh.”

“But you...... obviously can talk..... as if we wouldn't.... run..... a freaking...... marathon here.”

“You overexaggerate a little though. We're only running like 1/4 of the marathon distance.” Jinyoung scowls at him. “Which is super good already and you are doing an awesome job here,” Mark hurries to appease the boy. “You came such a long way, kid. But I do this since I was a toddler so yeah, my stamina is a lot better. But you will get there.”

“Whatever you say.”

They are running some more and Mark truly thinks that Jinyoung is doing awesome. In the beginning he wasn't able to run a longer distance than 500 meters before breaking down and almost needing an oxygen mask to survive. But he improved so quickly that he can run several kilometers now and still is capable of doing some other light exercises before or after that. He's very satisfied with his student.

“Can we..... maybe.... take another...... break?”

“Sure. You deserve it because you did so good,” Mark purrs and reaches out to poke Jinyoung's puffy cheek.

“Wow, thank you... I guess,” Jinyoung scoffs while they are slowing down until they're comfortably walking. The boys make their way to their water bottles and plop down on the running track.

“You think Jaebum and BamBam will be okay together?” Jinyoung asks while he wipes the sweat from his forehead with a towel.

“Are you actually worried about them?”

“Not really, I just want to know what you think.” Mark is sure he's pretending. He actually is worried about them. Well, this is cute, Mark silently assesses.

“I think they will be alright. I meant what I said earlier. I think their relationship truly became better. Yes, partly because BamBam got used to getting yelled at,” Mark laughs, “but also because he realized by now that Jaebum doesn't do it to be mean. It's just his style, even though it's weird.”

“God, how did he even end up doing this when he clearly isn't mature enough to take care of someone else?”

“He had to do it to prevent being kicked out. This also wasn't a joke earlier.”

“He was forced to do it?”

“Yes, we both were, actually. Jackson is the only one who volunteered.”

“What? What did you do?

“I flunked my anatomy exam. But my teacher is nice and he said he would still let me pass, if I would take part in this project.”

“Oh... so it's like that.” He looks a bit disappointed. Mark can't help but to think that he's such a cute kid.

“Yeah, it was my second chance. But before this whole thing started, I didn't expect that something good could come out of it. Just look how wrong I was with my non-existent expectations.”

“Something good, huh?”

“Yeah, because I had the chance to meet you and get to know you. I would have missed out on so much otherwise,” Mark assures and offers the boy a bright smile.

“So you're glad about it?” he asks with hopeful eyes.

“Of course. We're having fun, don't you think? Or do you actually hate me, Park Jinyoung?”

“No, I really don't hate you,” he says, smiling shyly. “I also think it's fun. And I feel more alive than I ever did before.”

“A typical win-win situation.”

“I guess.”

“That doesn't solve my problem of how I will survive next year's anatomy class but whatever,” Mark says casually.

“Oh, I can help you study.”

“I thought you wouldn't need to study.”

“I don't, but that doesn't mean that I can't offer my assistance. I make a study plan and very easy mnemonics. I am great at that,” he very enthusiastically promises.

“Alright, then I am taking you up on your offer.”  
  


“Maybe I can repay you a little that way. I'm still glad I ended up with you as my coach. But what did Jaebum do to be forced into participation?”

“He might have insulted a teacher and this is the last thing which saves him from being kicked out of college completely. And he was actually lucky that he got this second chance.”

“You're kidding me.”

“In case you didn't notice yet, he has a bit of a temper.” Mark shrugs with an apologetic smile on his lips.

“A bit of a temper? Sugarcoating things wont help, Mark. He clearly has some anger issues going on.”

“Don't let him hear this if you want to keep your head on your neck,” Mark chuckles.

“Would you care about my head?”

“I don't have any interest in seeing you dead, kid. Also your head bears this magical 128 IQ. It's too precious to be ripped off, right?”

“Oooh, such a nice compliment you gave me here,” he snickers.

“I wish to give you a lot more compliments regarding your athletic achievements but you have to give me reasons for that.” Mark knows it's blatant taunting but Jinyoung's reactions are too cute to not do it.

“Ouch. This hurts.” The younger clutches his t-shirt over his chest, pretending to be deeply wounded.

“But it's true.”

“Yeah, might be true. I will work harder... maybe.”

“Great, I can work with a maybe. Just try to make me proud.”

“I like you cheering me on but...uh... could you try to sound a little less like my dad?”

“Oh..um... sorry? But isn't it good, I mean your dad cheering you on?”

“Usually yes, but my dad was always such a sports obsessed guy, he tried to make me play football even before I could walk. You know me now quite a bit and I'm sure you can tell what happened when I grew up.”

“It turned out you were a hundred times more interested in books, documentaries and scientific experiments than in any type of sport ever?”

“Exactly. My dad is a nice and also enthusiastic guy. He's also very patient. So he never got tired of introducing different sports to me. I tried so many things and I failed so epically every time. It was like that my whole life. Even though I never ended up sharing his passion for it, he never seemed to be disappointed. He also never forced me to do anything. But I know deep down he wants me to be this great athlete son instead of the nerdy bookworm.”

“Oh..... and what did your mom say?”

“She just wants me to be happy so she never cared, if I do sports or books or anything else. Though she was worried about my admittedly sparse circle of friends.”

“So you came here for their sake?”

“Yes and no. I want to make them happy but they're also a bit stingy and I get a scholarship here.” His wide grin is really cute. “Though I will have to disappoint my dad as soon as I'm done with college. I think it's clear as day to you that I won't pursue a career as a professional athlete.”

“So what will you do with your degree?”

“I want to aim at a career as sports psychologist. I think that would suit me more.”

“I actually think that, too.”

“So my dad can have these few blissful college years before I have to disappoint him another time. But I think at least my mom will be happy.”

“Because _you_ will be happy?”

“Yes, that and because I already found a friend here. I think she would like you a lot. Like really, _really_ a lot.”

“Oh... okay.” Now it's Mark's turn to smile sheepishly. He didn't see this one coming at all.

“How about you? What will you do after you graduated?”

“In case I don't despair of anatomy class, I want to be a professional track and field athlete. I dreamed about that since I can remember. I always practiced after school several times per week. And also to go to this college was something I really wanted to do since I was a kid. Now that I accomplished this, I even have to try harder to reach my goal.”

“That's so admirable.... and so much better than my story. Now I feel like crap.”

“Don't,” Mark laughs. “We both have our own stories but we can both be successful in the end. And I, a future track and field athlete, need a very professional sports psychologist.”

“Well, that sounds like a plan.”

# # # #

“Hey, that wasn't bad, kid,” Mark says when he takes the basketball from Jinyoung.

“What about this wasn't bad?”

“What? You scored. You shot a basket.”

“One out of 25,” the boy grumbles.

“We just started with basketball, Jinyoung. It's the same as everything else, you need to practice to get better. Don't worry about it yet.”

“We will see about that,” the boy sighs and takes the last swig from his bottle. “I get us some more water, okay?”

“Yes, that would be great. Thank you.” Mark watches Jinyoung walk out of the college gymnasium when he notices from the corner of his eye something moving on the bleachers.

Two girls, also first years, come down the steps and approach him with bright smiles.

“Hey Mark, how are you doing?” Anna asks, excitedly.

“I’m fine. What about you?”

“Oh we’re good,” the other girl, Yeseul, answers. “We're just here to stop neglecting our training over summer break. No need to get out of shape.”

“Admirable,” Mark comments and gives them a thumbs up.

“Not as admirable as you are. How are you doing with the nerd?”

He actually likes these girls but this careless comment is enough to rile him up a bit. “His name is Jinyoung and it’s going good.”

“We watched for a bit and he looked like he’s on the verge of passing out. He's completely out of place here. So pathetic,” Anna cackles.

“Watch it, Anna. We all started at some point and we all needed time to get where we are now. Why would you be so mean?” Mark snaps.

“Calm down, okay? It’s just weird that you hang out with him so much. Want to hang out with me tonight instead? We could go grab a drink.”

“Yeah, I come too,” Yeseul purrs, blinking at him with fluttering eyelashes. “Three is always better,” she adds with a suggestive smile.

“Uhm… that’s nice of you but I have something on later.” Not only makes him their sudden attempt at flirting uncomfortable, he's also still pissed that they made fun of Jinyoung.

“How about tomorrow then?”

“Basically I’m pretty busy with coaching Jinyoung and also keeping my personal training up so I’m sorry, I can’t make it.”

“Fine,” Anna huffs. “You obviously choose to be with the nerd instead of two hot girls. That's pretty stupid, Mark.”

“Yeah, watch out! Don't catch his nerdiness. Would be such a waste. But then again, I think you're past remedy already,” the other girl adds snappily.

“Then I think you should stay away from me and Jinyoung from now on. You don't want to catch our nerdiness as well, right? And we don't want to hang out with rude shallow-brains either. Have a good day.”

They are muttering some insults while they trot off but he couldn't care less. He really doesn't want to be friends with people like them.

“Hey,” Jinyoung says feebly when he reappears by his side.

“Hey, thanks for the water..... uhm, did something happen? You look gloomy.”

The boy doesn't answer. Instead he stares at the tip of his sneaker. Mark tries to find out what happened just by observing him but then he suddenly realizes what's wrong.

“How much did you hear?”

“Some of the the really nasty parts,” he sighs, glancing back up to meet Mark's eyes. “I'm sorry.”

“What the heck are you sorry about? You didn't do anything.”

“I'm the reason they are mad at you.”

“No, you're the reason why I found out that they are actually some obnoxious cows. And I am very glad I came to realize that before I wasted more of my time on them.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah, really, kid. And now cheer up. Rather enjoy the rest of your break before I send you through another annoying basketball session.” Mark smiles at the boy before he playfully bumps his hip against Jinyoung's so that the younger slightly stumbles to the side.

“Okay,” he snickers and reaches out to get the ball from his coach. His palms are sliding over Mark's hands and linger there for a moment longer than it would be necessary before he steals the ball from him.

# # # #

Mark just finished his solo training in the evening. He's breaking down, panting and sweating. Everything hurts. Damn, he wishes he would endure this better. But he guesses if he just pushes himself hard enough, he will get where he wants to be. He will get better and accomplish all of his dreams like this. Just a little more. Just a little harder.

“Hey, what are you doing here?”

Mark looks up from where he is lying on the track and spots Jinyoung marching towards him.

“Hey kid. I complete my training. That's all. How did you know I'm here.”

“Jaebum told me you would be here. He also told me that you're a crazy idiot who does extra training every evening until the sun sets, additionally to your usual training. What is this?” He plops down next to Mark and beholds him with a scowl.

“Nothing much. I have to get better. That's all.”

“Mark, you're just about to enter your second year in college. Don't you think you have enough time to get better?”

“I don't know. What if I graduate and then realize that I'm not good enough to be a professional track and field athlete? What do I do then?”

“What if you graduate and by that time your body is already completely ruined because you pushed yourself too hard?”

“Well, that would be shit.”

“Yeah, it would. Mark, I read a lot about what you can ask of your body and when you're overstepping the line. And I know that you know about it, too. You're clearly overtaxing yourself, on a daily basis at that.”

“I'm just so scared. What if I won't make the cut? If I won't be good enough, my life will be in shambles.”

“Now, now. From personal experience I know that you would make a perfect sports teacher or even personal trainer. And also from personal experience I can tell that you seem to enjoy this also quite a bit. I do understand that you would be disappointed, if you can't realize your dreams, but not at all would your life be over. There are still so many possibilities life has to offer. You just don't see them yet because you stubbornly only have your goal in mind.”

Mark thinks about Jinyoung's words while he's staring up into the darkening sky. Basically he is right. Mark knows that he overexerts his body. He knows it's not healthy. Still he does it because he's terrified that he won't be good enough in the end. But again Jinyoung is right when he says that his body might not be able to withstand the strain. It kind of makes sense. He just wonders why it only makes sense when Jinyoung is saying it. Why wasn't it enough that he himself knew it, or that Jaebum told him countless times that he's an idiot for doing this?

“Jinyoung, you're like a sports psychologist already. You can start right away.”

“Does that mean that my words came through and reached this stubborn brain of yours?”

“The fact that _you_ call _me_ stubborn. Ridiculous.”

“But?”

“But yes, I guess I comprehend now.”

“That's a good thing. You're making progress as well. Nice to know I'm not alone in this,” he says and smiles softly down at Mark.

“Sometimes when I do something reckless it's like a second me stands right beside me and tells me 'It's stupid what you're about to do and you know it' but then I am like 'No, I do what I want. I'm young and wild and a rebel.' and then the second me goes 'I think you're just an idiot.'“

“Wow, second you is so much smarter than the real you.”

“Thanks,” Mark scoffs.

“Also you just sounded so much like Yugyeom who talked to his belly. It's scaring me. Don't do this ever again.”

“Thanks again,” Mark laughs and slaps Jinyoung's thigh lightly. “Hey kid, why were you looking for me anyway?”

“Oh I.... I just wanted to know what you're up to, like.... uhm... maybe you would have been free to do something.... together.”

“That would have been nice. But my whole body is aching. I'm afraid I'm useless for now.”

“It's fine. It's actually nice out here.”

“Yeah, let's stay for a while.”

They are spending the evening out there, mostly in silence and all by themselves on the huge training field. They watch the sun completely vanishing and taking all the different colors of the sky with it. When a gust of wind makes them shudder, they agree to end their little hangout session.

When Mark sits up he can't contain his little whimpers of pain. “Ou ou ou ou.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Nah, I can manage.”

“Come, hop on. I carry you to your room.” He crouches down with his back facing Mark, just like the older usually does.

“But.... but-”

“No buts. It's finally my turn. Come on.”

“Okay,” Mark agrees and crawls onto his back.

Jinyoung has some difficulties when he lifts him up but once he reobtained his balance, he seems to be steady enough to walk.

“Holy shit, you muscles weigh a ton.”

“That's my huge brain which you filled with so much realization just know,” Mark shoots back cheekily.

“Yeah, sure,” Jinyoung snickers. Mark just tightens his arms around Jinyoung's shoulders and buries his nose into his neck, enjoying the way Jinyoung takes care of him.

# # # #

“Oooouuuuhhh,” Jinyoung whines pathetically.

Mark interrupts his warm-up exercise to roll over and observe the younger. They are doing the infamous hip raises and like always, Jinyoung is doing them wrong.

“What's up, kid?”

“My back hurts so much,” he wails when he lies flat on the sport mat again.

“So you got back pain now. Might be because you totally messed up this exercise for weeks, against my better advice, I'd like to add.”

“No, that's not the reason,” he obstinately insists.

“It _is_ the reason and we both know it. But please, if you want to continue ruining your body, be my guest, kid.”

“Okay, it _is_ the reason. But stop the gloating.”

“That isn't gloating. Believe me, when I start to gloat you won't feel like I would let you live anytime soon. But right now I'm so nice to offer my assistance to teach you how to finally make this one right. Interested?”

“Fine, then show me,” the younger grumbles.

“Good. First of all, come here. You will watch me doing it the right way first before you try again.” The boy knee walks over to his mat and positions himself next to Mark. The latter lies down on his back again, bends his knees and lifts up his hips so that only his head, shoulders and feet are touching the mat.

“Okay, see how my torso is one straight line?” Jinyoung nods while his eyes are roaming over Mark's body. The blond notices how his tank top is riding up due to his position and exposes a bit of his stomach. But he isn't exactly ashamed of his abs so Mark doesn't really care. Though he realizes that Jinyoung might care because his eyes are glued to his middle suddenly.

“Give me your hand.”

“W-What?”

“Your hand.” The younger is confused but lifts his hand. Mark takes it and guides it under himself to press Jinyoung's palm against the fabric of his tank top. Slowly he drags it along his back. “Do you feel my spine? It's completely straight.”

There is no response coming from the younger. When Mark looks up at his face he is surprised to see wide eyes and a slightly open hanging mouth.

“Kid, are you okay?” Jinyoung nods vigorously at that and shuts his mouth with a soft plop sound. “So do you feel my spine?” Again heavy nodding. “Good.” Mark drags his hand further to the small of his back. On the way they cross the magical tank top hem border, so the small rest of the way, Mark guides Jinyoung's hand over his bare skin. He sees how the boy swallows down a lump in his throat.

“So you think you can do it?” Again no verbal response, but a nod. Mark sets the hand of the younger free and plops down on the mat. “Okay, now show me what you got, kid.”

So the younger starts to mimic everything Mark just did until his hips are also raised. His face is so red, Mark is earnestly worried that there's something wrong with him but chooses to observe a little longer.

Jinyoung's t-shirt has a much looser fit than Mark's, so when it also starts to ride up, it happens on a much bigger scale. The younger's hand comes up to adjust it but a second later the event just repeats.

“Just leave it, kid. It's better like this anyway, so I can feel your spine better.” And with this Mark reaches under the boy and also under his t-shirt to run his fingertips down the length of his spine. Mark notices the panic in his eyes. “Calm down. I just try to correct your posture, okay?” Jinyoung still looks a little uneasy but whispers a short “okay”.

The older focuses on his hand again. “No, there's a hollow back again, do you feel it?” Mark repeatedly strokes over the problematic area of his lower back. Instead of correcting his posture, the boy tenses up completely. “Hey kid, everything is fine. We got this.” Mark places his other hand on Jinyoung's exposed stomach and gently pushes it down a little. “Does this hurt?” Mark asks and looks back at Jinyoung's face. It looks red like a tomato and he's sweating buckets by now. But to answer his question, he shakes his head no. So it's not pain which puts the boy in such a state, Mark thinks. The latter continues to lightly nudge Jinyoung's middle, with one hand on his back and the other one on his stomach, into the correct position.

“Okay, this is it. It feels better, right?” Mark says and smiles at him. Jinyoung hums affirmatively, but his eyes are not on Mark but are glancing down his own body. And when the older follows his gaze, he spots the very noticeable outline of an erection in Jinyoung's shorts.

Astounded, his eyes flit back to Jinyoung's face. The younger is looking up at him, his wide eyes are screaming panic.

But the only thing that comes to Mark's mind now is the following. “You have a boner.”

“No, I don't!” His voice sounds unusually high-pitched and very strained. Also it is way too obvious. He absolutely has a boner. But Mark decides to play along.

“Okaaaay, you don't have a boner,” he agrees hesitantly.

But Jinyoung snaps suddenly out of it. He pushes Mark's hands away, jumps to his feet and pulls down his shirt to hide his noticeable non-boner before he hurries away.

Mark tries with all his might to perceive what just happened. Jinyoung had an erection, probably caused by their skin-to-skin contact, right? It sinks in slowly. Anyway, Mark decides to give Jinyoung a 15 minutes time advantage before he would follow him.

# # # #

Mark softly knocks at the door of Jinyoung's dorm room. There's a 99 % chance that he would be here.

“Jinyoung? Are you there?” No response. “Hey kid, come on. We need to talk.”

“Go away!” a muffled and definitely sulky voice comes from the other side of the door.

“It’s okay, kid. It can happen. Our bodies are exhausted after exercising day in and day out. That makes it so much more difficult to control…. things. It’s not so unusual.”

“Yeah? I didn’t see _you _walk around with a boner yet.”

“Kid, I’m used to the strain. I can handle it way better by now.”

“Stop calling me kid!”

“I told you, you _are_ a kid.”

“STOP CALLING ME THAT. I’M NOT A KID!” he suddenly yells and Mark winces a little.

He sighs and puts his forehead against the smooth surface of the door. “Why is it suddenly important what I call you? It’s not like you cared so far.”

“I _do_ care.”

“Why?”

“I’m not a kid and I hate that you see me as one.” His voice sounds still sulky but there's also a hint of determination detectable. Mark wishes he could see him. It would be easier that way.

“I don’t really see you as a kid….. Jinyoung. Just because I call you kid, it doesn't mean that I think of you as a ten-year old or something. A kid also can’t yield such an impressive boner.”

“I HATE YOU!”

Mark can barely suppress his laughter but he tries his utmost, assuming that it wouldn't help to appease Jinyoung. “Okay, I give you some more alone time to calm down and later we can talk.”

“Don’t just leave!”

“What should I do then? Continue to talk to the damn door?”

“Console me and convince me that it would be a good idea to open the door,” he demands. Mark can see the mental image of Jinyoung's pout perfectly fine in his head.

“Okay, I will try. First of all, can we talk about the fact that I'm giving you boners?” It's so difficult to hide the amusement in his voice.

“No! Never!”

“Oh yes, we will. And for that you better let me in or everyone who walks by will hear that about you.” Honestly, it's rather unlikely that somebody would walk down the corridor now. It's still summer break and the few people who are occupying dorm rooms at the moment are probably busy with their training sessions right now.

Nevertheless, as if Mark cast a magic spell, the door swings open only two seconds after he finished speaking.

There he is, with his cute face and his cute pouting lips and his cute, red cheeks, but without boner.

“Don't look there!”

“Sorry, was just checking.”

“I see that,” Jinyoung hisses before he scurries to his bed and crawls on top of it. He looks so adorable, leaning against the wall and tightly hugging a fluffy cushion.

The blond walks in and takes a seat on BamBam's bed.

“Don't sit there!”

“Why not?”

“Because it's BamBam's. You don't belong there.”

“Okay? Uhm... then I will sit with you on _your_ bed. But don't freak out.”

“I won't,” he mutters and buries his chin in the cushion.

“So the boner-”

“Stop talking about boners!”

“So the erection-”

“Maaaaaark!”

“Okay okay. Kid, we really need-”

“I told you to stop calling me a kid!”

“Good gracious! You give me too many orders at once. I can't keep up.”

“Hmpf.”

“Jinyoung,” Mark starts and emphasizes every letter of his name. “I'm sorry if it came across as if I would touch you in any inappropriate ways, but I can assure you that it was only meant as a teaching measure.”

“I was afraid you'd say that.”

“Huh?”

“Now it's even more embarrassing that I got hard only from you teaching me a damn exercise, without you even aiming for making me hard.”

“Uhm... what?”

“But of course it must end like this,” Jinyoung sighs and instead of remaining sulky he looks rather crestfallen now. “Because what was I thinking? It was idiotic right from the start. You, the college prince-”

“College prince?”

“Yes, Mark. You are the college prince. I have not been here for a long time and of course nobody talks to me directly, but I still learned how you are the college prince and people are lining up to be with you.”

“They are?” Mark asks, completely dumbfounded.

“Yes, they are. Girls are greeting you all of the time and the semester didn't even start yet. Not to mention the way they are literally undressing you with their lewd eyes.”

“But I'm not even interested in gi-”

“I know. I overheard a bunch of guys in the corridors, talking about you. They mentioned that they are so glad you're into guys only, because you're the tastiest snack around. Their words.”

“I..... am?”

“God, the fact that you don't even realize it makes you even much more interesting and sexy.” Jinyoung pants the desperate sounding words before he bites down on the cushion.

“Interesting and sexy? I just try not to flunk anatomy with all my might. How could I care about any of that when I have an education to worry about?”

“God, _so_ sexy! If you continue this, my boner will be back in seconds,” the younger groans and hides his face behind his palms.

“Uhm... your perception of sexy seems to be quite a unique one,” Mark muses.

“But that doesn't change the fact that everybody wants you. As I was about to say, you, the college prince, nice, charming, funny with dazzling looks and me, the moody nerd. I knew from the start this wouldn't go well and I hate myself for letting me run deeper into the catastrophe even though I knew it would end badly. I hate it when feelings outrank my brain.”

“What bad ending are you talking about?”

“You're about to break my heart because you don't want to be with the moody nerd.”

“Are you saying that you like me?”

“Sometimes you're remarkably slow,” Jinyoung comments dryly.

“Better late than never,” Mark says and shrugs. “Just let me inform you that I won't break your heart. I am actually the number one fan of your heart and I want to protect it with everything I have.”

“Wait, are you saying that you like me back?” The expression on the younger's face is priceless.

“Ugh... so slow,” Mark jokes.

“Shut up. Answer my question.”

“Another command. But oh well, I think I like the way you order me around,” Mark chuckles. But he sees that Jinyoung's patience is wearing thin as his eyes are drilling holes into his skull. “Ki-.... Jinyoung, I really like you a lot. I love to spend time with you. And saying that touching your smooth, warm skin earlier left me unimpressed, would be a blatant lie. So would you give me the honor of being my boyfriend from now on?”

“YES!” the boy happily yells and pounces on Mark, which is a very bad idea because he literally sits on the edge of the bed and Jinyoung knocks them both down on the floor.

After releasing a pathetic yelp Mark assesses the situation and smiles as he spots the grinning Jinyoung sitting on top of him. “Reminds me of your first try on vaulting.”

“Yes, there are some similarities but this story here will proceed differently.”

“Yes? How?”

And just like this, Jinyoung leans down to capture Mark's lips. It's a soft and gentle kiss. It is nice to feel those shiny lips finally on him after seeing them forming this adorable pout for so many times. It feels nice to have Jinyoung so close to him without any other people or potential insecurities interrupting them.

The younger pulls away, just enough so they can look into each others' eyes. “Wow,” the boy marvels. “I never thought we would be immediately so good at that.”

“No? I thought we would be perfect together. But that doesn't mean that there is no room for improvement. We should practice to get better,” Mark suggests with a telling grin on his face.”

“I think you're correct about that, coach.” Jinyoung leans down to connect their lips again. Mark catches the moment when his eyes flutter shut, his long lashes creating a puff of wind which hits Mark and he smiles into the kiss. The older wraps his arms around the boy on top of him to feel even more of his presence. His plump lips doing wonders as they are sliding against Mark's bottom lip, then attacking his upper lip with a light nip.

He wants to taste the boy so badly. And even though he knows that he probably moves too fast, he opens his mouth to lick the silkiness of his lips. Jinyoung reacts in the most wonderful way. Suddenly the tips of their tongues are touching and Mark feels even more exhilarated than after completing his fastest 100-meter dash ever.

# # # #

“I really don't know why you're both here. It's so rare that it's scaring me,” Jackson mutters as he beholds Mark and Jaebum, sitting side by side on his bed in his dorm room.

“Jackson, tell us what's up with you and Youngjae,” Mark demands without ceremony.

“Yeah, we are your friends,” Jaebum chimes in.

“Right, and you can be honest with us,” Mark adds.

“Because liars get murdered.”

“Uhm.... maybe not murdered,” Mark tries to downplay his friend's statement.

“Not immediately.”

Jackson beholds them with a rather quizzical look. “Are you threatening me, _friends_?”

“No?” they answer in unison.

“You're ridiculous,” the room-habitant scoffs. “Why are you even interested?”

“Because we're friends and friends should know about each others' love interests, right?” Mark brings to question.

“And we're hella curious,” Jaebum butts in. Well, that's not the way Mark would have brought their point across but anyway, what's done is done.

“So tell me about _your_ love interests first then,” Jackson requests.

“I'm in love with Jinyoung. We're a couple now. Don't touch him or else I fling a freaking medicine ball at you.”

“Wow, that was straightforward,” Jackson acknowledges. “What about you and Bam?” he addresses Jaebum.

“Now look who's ridiculous,” he snorts. “That would never happen. Never. Not in a million years. Let me spell it out for you: N E W E R!”

“You just spelled 'never' wrong but I get your point,” Jackson casually admits. “Okay, now that this is out of the way, I can formally announce that my sweet baby Youngjae and I are dating.”

“Wooooaaah, it really _is_ true. But then again, we knew it already,” Jaebum says, shrugging.

“Then why were you bugging me just now?”

“Just for the heck of it.”

“He means because we want you to know that you can talk about it with us,” Mark points out. “But.... you call them both 'baby', Yugyeom and also Youngjae. Isn't this a little weird?”

“Well, Yugyeom is a real baby. Like he is my baby-baby but Youngjae, damn, he's my baby-babe. There's that difference.”

“I don't want to know more,” Jaebum announces and jumps to his feet. “Good luck for the both of you in your relationships. I'm rooting for you.”

Mark and Jackson break out into uncontrollable laughter at the sight of a supportive Jaebum, knowing that it will approximately take mere hours until he wants to murder at least one of them again.

# # # #

“Your muscles are a little stiff. We worked so hard, no wonder that it would happen eventually,” Mark murmurs as he kneads his boyfriend's shoulders. They are in Mark's and Jaebum's shared dorm room. Luckily Jaebum isn't back from his training session with BamBam yet, so they can enjoy the time alone. And damn, Mark really enjoys how Jinyoung sits with him on his bed, conveniently nestled between Mark's legs with his back facing him.

“Mhhhh, that feels so good. Why are you so skilled?”

“Because I do this with my 26 other boyfriends as well.”

Jinyoung turns his head as far as he can to glare at the older. “Not funny.”

“Sorry,” Mark laughs and presses a tiny kiss to the younger's neck.

“Mhhhhh, that also feels very good.”

“Yeah? How about this?” Mark places more kisses all the way from to the nape of his neck up to his hairline while he continues to massage his back.

“Very good,” he purrs. After some minutes of quiet enjoyment Jinyoung speaks up again. “Hey Mark?”

“Yes, boyfriend?”

“What if..... what if I won't gonna make it into this college?”

Mark stops his motions. This question comes as a surprise. They never talked about the possibility of Jinyoung failing the physical entrance exam. And all the raw uncertainty in the younger's voice makes the thought of it happening even scarier.

“We worked very hard and you improved so much. We still have two weeks left to even step your game up. The chances are good that you will make it.”

“Yeah, yeah I know, but..... just in case, what if I won't?”

“What do you mean? What about it?”

“I mean with us. We can't be together like we are now.”

“No, but that doesn't mean that we can't be together at all. I still hope that you would choose a college nearby, so we could meet up on a regular basis. But even if you don't, even if you choose a university on the other side of the country, we still remain a couple. Unless you have other plans...”

“No! No matter what, I want us to be together. I just didn't know what you think about it. Because in that case it will get a lot harder for us to maintain this relationship.”

“But possible.”

“Yeah, definitely possible,” Jinyoung says softly. Mark doesn't see his face but he hears the smile in his voice.

“Listen Jinyoung, you might have noticed that I'm not somebody who runs away from difficult challenges. And this is not much different. If we still are on the same page, we can overcome this. And after college we can do whatever we want. We could even straightway move in together. Are you with me?”

“Yes, yes absolutely,” Jinyoung assures. He sounds a lot more relieved now. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me for that.” Mark starts to kiss his neck again while he nuzzles his soft, dark hair in the process. An affirmative hum comes from the younger so Mark decides to get a bit bolder. His hands are sliding down the younger's back just to slip under the hem of his t-shirt. He feels Jinyoung shifting under his touch. “Tell me if this makes you uncomfortable, okay?” Mark whispers into his ear.

“No, not uncomfortable at all. Quite the contrary.” This comes out of his mouth a little breathless, just short of being a moan. Mark would love to hear a moan.

His palms are sliding up the younger's back to continue kneading his muscles. He notices how Jinyoung leans more into his touch.

“You feel so good, Jinyoung,” Mark whispers in a low voice.

“You know, when we study for your anatomy class, you could exercise on the living object. I happily volunteer for it.”

“You're dangerous,” Mark quietly chuckles. “But never before was the prospect of studying so tempting.”

“It's the least I could do for you. I offer my help in return for you coaching me. By the way, you could show me some more stretches. And I'm not sure I mastered the hip raise exercise yet. Maybe we should work on that some more.”

God, his boyfriend is absolutely sweet and breathtakingly indecent at the same time. Mark loves it. It's time for a reward. Mark uses the tip of his tongue to slowly trace a zig zag up Jinyoung's neck. Then he blows some air against the wetness which he created.

“Nnngggg, Mark!” Yes, there was the moan Mark waited for. This is it. Too much temptation.

“So sexy!” Mark reattaches his lips to his neck and now blesses his skin with open mouthed kisses. His hands are traveling around his middle to touch Jinyoung's bare stomach. The younger's breath hitches a little. It seems like that will be Mark's new favorite song. The blond slowly lets his palms creep up underneath the fabric of the t-shirt until he reaches his nipples. Without a warning he starts to roughly rub them.

“AAAAHHHHH! MARK OH MY GOD!” This reaction is better than he ever would have assumed. He wants more of that.

The way Jinyoung now leans completely into his chest only motivates him more. The younger even lets his head drop on Mark's shoulder while he moans his name. His Adam's apple is fully exposed and looks so tasty, Mark really wants to suck it.

“Jinyoung, you sound so good. And you feel so good, too. How is everything about you so perfect?” The boy answers only with desperate panting as Mark continues to work on his sensitive nipples.

The blond is just about to plan the next step when the door swings open and an absolute weirded-out looking Jaebum suddenly stands in the middle of their shared room.

“What the heck are you doing?”

Jinyoung shrieks and turns around to hide his face in Mark's chest. The latter wraps his arms around him in a protective manner.

“God, Jaebum, can't you knock before coming in?” Mark asks, utterly annoyed.

“Are you out of your mind? This is _my_ room, too. I don't knock at my own door,” he shoots back, scandalized.

“Well, if you want to prevent seeing things like this in the future, you better freaking start to knock. Just a well-meant advice.”

“Damn all of you with all of your boyfriends,” the other mutters while he's plopping down on his bed.

Mark feels Jinyoung snickering in his embrace. Even though their little make-out session ended abruptly, he's glad his boyfriend finds good entertainment in his annoyed roommate.

# # # #

All of them anticipated this day as much as they feared it to come. Today is the day of the entrance exam.

Especially Jinyoung and Youngjae were nervous wrecks this morning. Mark wished he could take all the anxiousness and tension from his boyfriend but it's impossible. Also he feels just the same. Nevertheless he tried all morning not to let the younger notice. It would have been no help at all and instead would have made him even more uneasy.

The three coaches did a thorough warm-up session with the boys before they released them into the waiting room, where the four of them would stay until they are called into the gymnasium one by one.

These exams are always held behind closed doors, hidden from the public gaze. Onlookers would make the prospective students even more nervous. But Mark, Jackson and Jaebum decided that they can't wait until all the boys are done. So they noiselessly creep into the gymnasium and hide under the bleachers, in hope that the three examining teachers won't notice them.

Mark just hopes that neither Jackson nor Jaebum would work themselves into a frenzy while watching the exam. He's sure they wouldn't be able to contain their loud voices then.

The first contestant is BamBam. They watch him completing all the given tasks rather good and congratulate Jaebum with an upper-arm nudge or a back rub after every single trial. Unfortunately his old personal enemy, the hurdles, are ruining it for the boy. He trips right over the first one, knocks it down and falls. Mark and Jackson have to clasp their hands over Jaebum's mouth to prevent him from yelling.

“Damn, he did so good so far,” Jackson sighs.

“Maybe they'll let it slide?” Mark whispers.

“But that's against the rules. Rules say he's out,” Jaebum also whispers, seeming surprisingly upset.

They still let the Thai boy take the last test which he also passes. Mark thinks it's weird though. Maybe they will make an exception for him? Mark hopes for that outcome but knows it's not very likely to happen.

The next one to take the exam is Yugyeom. He walks into the room while he's obviously still busy chewing god knows what. All of the three boys in hiding are palming their faces at that. Fortunately the tall kid has no difficulties with any of the prepared challenges and he passes with flying colors. They silently high five Jackson in their little hide-out.

The next one is Youngjae. The boy is so nervous that he already trips over his own two feet when he enters the room. He's trembling all over and they only can hope that a miracle will save him.

Sadly no miracle seems to have time for the poor, little muffin which is Choi Youngjae. He blunders, staggers and falls his way through almost every task. Jackson winces at every single struggle the boy has to go through. In the final result he only manages to pass the running tests. Everything else was a mess.

There are tears in Jackson's eyes when the boy shuffles out with slumped shoulders. “Damn, he was too nervous. I know he could do it but he was just too nervous,” Jackson whisper-rants, looking so desperate that it breaks Mark's heart.

But he has no time yet to let his emotions run free. There walks Jinyoung in. He looks confident but Mark still detects the little jitter in his movements.

Turns out all the effort was worth it. Jinyoung delivers in an awesome way. All those artistic gymnastics exercises, he not only performs them correctly but also with much grace. Mark's heart almost bursts with pride and adoration for the younger. Jinyoung runs the 100 meters even comfortably within the time limit. That's his boy!

Only the last task makes his nervousness flare up again. Basketball. So far it was always a question of Jinyoung's form on the respective day (and also calls for a little luck) when it came to shooting hoops. The exam rules require him to score at least 16 out of 20 attempts.

After Jinyoung scored 12 times but also failed already 4 tries, Mark is so on edge that he's on the brink of biting into the bleachers. Jinyoung can't make another mistake or else he will be out.

“Calm down, Mark. He's doing good,” Jaebum tries to soothe him.

“Yeah, he can do this. Don't worry,” Jackson whispers.

And indeed, Jinyoung scores two more times. He needs two more. Only two more and he's in and can be together with Mark for the following years. Only two more.

But stricken with horror, Mark watches now how the ball bounces off the rim and drops back down to the floor without making it through the hoop.

“Nooooooooo!” Mark whisper-screams. “Nooo, please don't let this be true. Nooo!”

Jinyoung looks so dejected as he walks to pick up the ball. The poor boy. Mark wants to run up to him and comfort his boyfriend, hug him and tell him that everything is okay. And he wants to tear down this damn basketball hoop. But he has to stay put and watch Jinyoung failing also his last try.

“Is he crying?” Jaebum whisper-asks.

“Oh my god, yes. Oh no... oh no! Come on guys. Let's get out of here to meet our boys,” Mark urges and crawls towards the back door.

# # # #

“Jinyoung!” Mark calls out as soon as the four contestants file out of the waiting room. He runs up to the disheartened looking boy to envelop him in a tight hug.

“I'm sorry, Mark,” the boy sobs. “I... I made a mistake. I-”

“Hey, don't worry. It's not that bad, okay? I'm so proud of you. You did an awesome job in there.”

“How do you know?”

“We sneaked in and watched.”

“YOU SAW EVERYTHING?” Youngjae wails, while Jackson wipes the tears off his face.

“Yes, yes we saw. But we're so proud of all of you,” Jackson tries to console him.

“I did so many mistakes. You were such a good coach and I couldn't do anything right.”

“That's not true, baby-Jae. You were just nervous. It can happen. Don't beat yourself up.”

“Still, everyone except Yugyeom failed,” BamBam sighs.

“Congrats Yugyeomie. You were awesome,” Jackson praises and leaves Youngjae's side for a mere second to give his other student a hug.

“Thanks, but it doesn't feel good, when I am the only one,” he murmurs.

“How about we all go and grab some food now. Coaches are buying. Are you up for it?” Mark asks the group and tries to lift the mood a little.

“They said we should wait here for the results,” Jinyoung answers.

“Why? Wasn't it clear who did pass?”

“We don't know either,” BamBam butts in. “But that's what they said.”

Only seconds later one of the teachers walks out to pin a sheet of paper to the wall. “You might want to look at the results,” he says to them before he leaves again.

The small group instantly crowds the said information sheet. Seven pairs of eyes stare at the paper all at once.

“EVERYONE PASSED!” Jaebum yells before anybody else finds their voice. The group erupts into loud, victorious cheers while they hug each other, high five everyone and jump in joy.

“I can't believe it,” Youngjae cries. “They even let _me _pass!”

“Yeah, that's true. The question is, why did they?” BamBam wonders.

“Looking at it now, they might have intended to let all of us pass right from the start, regardless of the results,” Jinyoung thinks out loud.

They all look at each other with dumbfounded expressions on their faces.

“You mean all the training was for nothing?” Jaebum nags.

“No, I don't think so,” Jackson answers a lot calmer than his friend while he's holding Youngjae in a tight backhug. “Now that they passed and actually got into our college, they somehow have to survive in it. Our two months of training were a good preparation, way better than letting them just enter without a single athletic experience or success.”

Everyone nods while they try to perceive that the teachers played them all.

“I could be mad and stubborn about it,” Jinyoung eventually speaks up. “But in the end I'm just glad we made it and I can be together with my boyfriend now.”

“And you can make your dad proud,” Mark adds.

“Yeah, yeah that as well. Whatever,” Jinyoung casually states before he engages Mark in a sweet kiss.

“Same here,” Jackson cheers. “I'm so happy my baby-Jae can stay.” Jackson lifts Youngjae up and twirls him around while the younger lets out a guffaw.

“What about me? I can stay as well but you weren't _that_ elated about it,” Yugyeom sulks.

“You staying is good, too,” his coach answers, not very convincingly.

“Now that I passed, will you buy me snacks as a reward?”

“Sure, for a last time I will buy you anything you want.”

“Why last time?”

“You don't expect me to feed you all the way through college, right? I'm not that rich.”

“Then why did I even take the trouble?” the tall boy keeps sulking, but everyone chooses to ignore him.

“BamBam, you did so good. I'm proud of you,” Jaebum praises while he puts his arm around the younger's shoulder.

“So you won't yell at me anymore, right?”

“Only if you deserve it or when I feel like it. But apart from that, no, never again.”

“When isn't either one of those two situations the case though?” Jackson points out.

“That's just what I was thinking. Huh,” the Thai boy says wryly.

“Whatever! Now we should go celebrate!” Jaebum announces happily and starts to march off, pulling BamBam along with him. Yugyeom, Jackson and Youngjae are bouncing after them. And with some distance Mark and Jinyoung follow the group, walking hand in hand.

“So now that the biggest obstacle is out of the way, tell me, is it possible that first years and second years share a room?” Jinyoung asks and smiles suggestively at the blond.

“It's not very common, no.”

“Hmmm, don't worry, I will just trick Jaebum out of your room. He won't even notice until he's standing with all his belongings in another dorm. He's not the smartest after all.”

“Jinyoung, I thought we discussed this and agreed to not comment negatively on other people's intelligence.”

“I comment on his lack of intelligence.”

“Jinyoung!”

“Fine,” he sighs. “But you are aware that just because I won't say he's dumb, I won't stop thinking that he's dumb, right?”

“Oh boy,” Mark groans and massages the bridge of his nose with his free hand.

“I'm just gonna handle it so that he will end up in one room with BamBam.”

“You're so evil. It's kind of scary but also a little hot,” Mark marvels at his smart boyfriend.

“Just wait until we can study anatomy in our shared room without having to fear disturbances. Expect a new definition of 'hot',” Jinyoung purrs and bites his own bottom lip afterwards while he holds Mark's gaze.

“Oh wow. I never felt more blessed than I feel now. And I never thought flunking anatomy would result in getting the greatest boyfriend alive. What should I learn from this lesson?”

“That second chances are sometimes better than the first ones,” Jinyoung answers and leans in to press a soft kiss to Mark's cheek.


End file.
